JOHN WAYNE: THE DUKE

The Charge

Opening Statement

The break that John Wayne received by being cast in the lead role of Fox's
large scale, widescreen 1930 western The Big Trail failed to propel him
into the ranks of major stars -- it was not until 1939's Stagecoach that
that would happen -- and for the rest of the decade, he appeared in a succession
of B films for both major and minor studios. Most of these films were westerns
including some roles at Columbia supporting that company's current B western
stars -- Buck Jones and Tim McCoy; a series of six starring roles for Warner
Brothers that relied on stock footage from the company's older Ken Maynard
westerns; and a number of lead roles for Republic including seven entries in
that company's popular "Three Mesquiteer" series. During the period
1933-1935, Wayne hooked up with Monogram Pictures to star in 16 low-budget
westerns called "Lone Star Westerns." Columbia TriStar has now
packaged five of these films (Riders of Destiny, West of the
Divide, The Trail Beyond, Paradise Canyon, and Desert
Trail) along with a single Columbia production (Two Fisted Law) into
a two-DVD box set called John Wayne: The Duke.

Facts of the Case

Two Fisted Law (1932) -- Rancher Tim McCoy along with assistance from
hired hand John Wayne attempts to catch a crooked cattleman who has cheated
McCoy out of his ranch.Riders of Destiny (1933) -- A secret
service agent (John Wayne) is sent from Washington to work undercover at
wresting ranchers' water rights from a crooked gang leader.West of the
Divide (1934) -- A young man (John Wayne) returns to his boyhood
surroundings hoping to solve the murder of his father and the disappearance of
his younger brother.The Trail Beyond (1934) -- John Wayne attempts
to find a missing girl and gold mine in the Pacific Northwest.Paradise
Canyon (1935) -- A government undercover agent (John Wayne) tries to catch a
counterfeit ring operating near the Mexican border.Desert Trail
(1935) -- Rodeo performer John Wayne finds himself involved in trying to solve a
holdup.

The Evidence

This DVD release by Columbia is a rather curious one. It consists of one film
that was originally a Columbia production, but the other five are all originally
Monogram films that have received numerous DVD releases by way of the various
public domain specialists (although it should be noted that this box set
indicates that all the Monogram films included in it are copyright 1985 by
Fox/Lorber Associates, Inc. -- Classics Associates, Inc.). It is of course good
to get all these films available on DVD from one of the majors, although the
transfers are only slightly better than some of the public domain ones. Why,
however, Columbia chose to release those titles when the company had four other
Columbia films with John Wayne featured in them is strange indeed. How much
better it would have been to have had a Columbia-only box set containing
relative John Wayne rarities like Men Are Like That (1931, AKA
Arizona), Range Feud (1931, starring Buck Jones), Maker of
Men (1931, a football story starring Jack Holt), and Texas Cyclone
(1932, starring Tim McCoy), in addition to Two Fisted Law included in the
current set. For whatever reason, Columbia chose not to do that, however, so
let's look at what they did give us.

Columbia's Two Fisted Law is the oldest and best of the six films in
the box set. It is a Tim McCoy western and shows some care in its production,
definitely standing out from the assembly-line look of some of the B western
series of the time. John Wayne has a small supporting role and it's also
interesting to see Walter Brennan as a crooked deputy sheriff.

The other five films have much in common. They all originated with the same
unit at Monogram, with Paul Malvern as producer, A.J. Stout as photographer, and
in most cases with Robert N. Bradbury (cowboy star Bob Steele's father) as
director. Recurring cast members are George "Gabby" Hayes, Paul Fix,
Yakima Canutt (who acted as a villain and also was Wayne's stunt double so he
sometimes ended up chasing himself on screen), Earl Dwire, and Lafe McKee. John
Wayne, of course, has the starring part in all of them and frequently appears in
an undercover role. Once, he even appears as singing cowboy, "Singin'
Sammy" (obviously dubbed by someone else), and we get the rather silly
sequence of Wayne singing as he engages one of the bad guys in a shootout during
Riders of Destiny. The films contain straightforward plots and are
generally pleasant to sit through, clocking in at less than an hour in length
for the most part. They are variable in action content with The Trail
Beyond being best in that regard. An interesting note concerning this series
of films is the fact that we start to see more realistic fight sequences than
had heretofore been the case on screen. Yakima Canutt and John Wayne developed
the techniques of the "pass system" that eventually became standard
procedure for throwing on-screen punches. The real pleasure of the films,
however, is seeing a gradual progression in Wayne's comfort level on camera and
the effort he puts into the roles. He was paid $2,500 per film, each of them
having a total budget of $10,000 and a five-day production schedule.

Would that Columbia had put the same effort into delivering cleaned-up DVD
versions of these films. While Two Fisted Law looks about the best of
them, that's not saying much. The other transfers are only slightly better than
the numerous public domain versions already available. While watchable, much of
the time, the images look soft with poor contrast and shadow detail. Scratches
and speckles are the order of the day throughout, and there is the occasional
distracting vertical line that pops up. All films are presented full frame in
accord with their original aspect ratio and each has eight scene selections.

Mono sound tracks are provided for each film. These are subject to
age-related hiss and crackling, and overall, they sound rather thin. Despite all
that, though, dialogue is fairly clear and understandable. The real
disappointment lies in Columbia's decision to give us the versions of the
Monogram films with the pathetic synthesizer music accompaniment -- the ones
that have been running on the likes of AMC and Encore Westerns of late. It's not
that there's a lot of music in the films -- it only tends to kick in during the
chase sequences -- but it just sounds so out-of-place (not to mention thin and
wavery) that it can actually spoil the mood of the film. It's just another piece
of evidence that Columbia didn't give much thought to this DVD release. English,
French, and Spanish subtitles are provided.

Supplementary material is limited to a disc insert pamphlet that provides a
two-page summary of the production background.

Closing Statement

Despite the rather curious decision by Columbia to issue these films and the
cavalier way they've been treated, I am pleased to have them available on DVD in
other than completely substandard and questionable public domain versions. I
can't imagine that we're ever going to see really cleaned-up versions of these
films on DVD. Unfortunately, the decisions on the sound tracks may be a deal
breaker for devoted John Wayne fans and being one, I can't in all conscience
endorse this set.

The Verdict

The court is not very happy with the effort on these films and censures
Columbia for its substandard treatment of six of the Duke's films, even if most
of them aren't originally Columbia releases.